1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method for applying a specified processing with a substrate substantially horizontally held. Here, substrates to be processed include semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for photomasks, glass substrates for liquid crystal displays, glass substrates for plasma displays, substrates for FEDs (Field Emission Displays), substrates for optical discs, substrates for magnetic discs and substrates for magneto-optical discs. The processings to be applied to the substrate include a development processing, an etching processing, a cleaning process, a rinsing processing and a drying processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method for applying a processing with a substrate substantially horizontally held, a blocking member having substantially the same size as or slightly larger than the substrate is arranged at a position above and proximate to the substrate to cover the substrate in order to prevent the adhesion of fallen dust and mist to the upper surface of the substrate and prevent the substrate surface from being exposed to air. For example, according to technology disclosed in JP-A-2006-179550, a blocking plate arranged to face a substrate is provided right above the substrate horizontally held by a spin chuck. This blocking plate is driven and rotated at the same rotation speed in the same rotating direction as the spin chuck. By doing so, a blocking effect of blocking the substrate from dust, mist, outside air and the like is obtained in the conventional technology.